3rd Place Winner Berri's Prize :)

The third place winner of my first blog giveaway went to Berri, and she told me she wanted a shapeshifter type potion.  After some research, I came up with nothing really but the same type of werewolf potions and shape-shifting information I had already done for Victoria.  So starting from scratch, I decided to make something up of my own.  Totally fictitious, but cool nonetheless.  I called it Metamorphosis Changeling Potion.  I built a two-section box and blackened it, lined one side with red velvet material.  Into one side went the potion bottle, the other side has an assortment of items needed to work this magic.  A small second bottle of potion, hand-dipped candle sticks, a rolled parchment, a wand.  Pretty self-explanatory, but I think it turned out nice.  I'll be shipping this off to Berri today, hope she likes it :)  And then I have two more custom orders to fill before I can start my beloved tea cart for the red queen!  I have six more roses to complete, then another custom order came in for items based on the movie Coraline by Tim Burton.  It'll be up to the customer if she would like these items, but I was thinking of doing the beetle chair and possibly the fireplace from the "other Mother's" house.  She has commissioned the bow-topped box with needle, thread and button eyes that the other Mother gives to Coraline so that she can stay in the other world forever.   This project should be fun :)  I'll let you know what I end up making when I finally get there.  Okie doke-here's Berri's prize:

2nd Place Giveaway Winner Victoria's Prize and Store Coupons!

I am finally done!  After an icky few days where we had a carbon monoxide scare and we had to leave home for a day I'm back in business.  First of all, if you don't have a detector, you should get one.  Second of all, if you do have one...make sure it WORKS properly.  Apparently ours went on the fritz and decided to give a false positive readout and subsequent frightening alarm telling me my home was filling with poisonous gas...which it wasn't.  Hubbs came rushing home from work, we cleared out and waited for a service man to come save us from imminent death.  Or so we thought!  Damn thing scared me to death for nothing, grrr.  They can save lives, so you should have one anyway.  So off we went to get another "working" alarm, hehe. 

Anywho, after much drama around the Hays house, I finally was able to complete Victoria's prize.  She wanted a "dark" themed item.  I went for darkness and light by making a potion crate based on this old German legendary curative which cures Lycanthropy Virus:

Wolfsbane Potion

Wolfsbane (Aconite or Monks-hood

Here is a recipe taken from a German legend :

Cast a circle of 9 feet, and a smaller one only 4 feet in diameter.

Place a series of candles at equal intervals, and place a wooden altar in the south. Within the inner circle, place the werewolf

Build a small fire exactly opposite of the altar, and 1 1/2 foot away from the inner circle.

Place a pot over the fire, containing 2 pints of clear water. To this add:

1/2 oz. camphor

3/4 oz. ammonia

1/2 oz. hypericum

2 drachms sulfur

1/2 oz castorium

6 drachms opium

3 drachms asafoetida

Mix thoroughly. Bind together with red ribbon a wand of three sprigs, each from ash, white popular, and birch. Take a cupful of the searing liquid and douse the werewolf, as well as lashing him/her with the wand exclaiming "Foul spirit release this persons' soul, return to the great unknown!" Repeat 3 times."

So I fashioned a wooden crate by hand and filled with the items needed to complete the cure:  a bottle of wolfsbane potion, a hand-sculpted beat up pewter cauldron, a blood-stained alter cloth that has obviously seen some action, a holy cross for protection, a wolf charm for blessing, a wand, sacramental candles for the alter, and a rolled parchment with the above directions that can be removed to read (be careful though!)  The crate itself it finished in dark stain, weathered and distressed for an aged look.  Ok so here's my craptacular pictures (whaa, need new camera!):

Like usual, so much better in person!  But hey, you get the idea :)

Also I should mention, they are several items in my shop with coupon codes added inside the listing.  10% off when you enter the coupon code HAPPYCHRISTMAS at checkout.  Only on items that say so in the listing, but it is savings regardless, right?  Every dollar counts at Christmas time :)  Just thought I'd let you know!  Visit my store here at:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarayvonne

to view the discounted items. 

1st 19th Day Miniature blog giveaway winner Morgan's prize, and wonderful eyeshadow too

Ok, so after speaking with Morgan by email and a little investigation through her blog about what sort of minis she collected, I'm finally through creating her 1st place winner prize!  She said she'd like a natural, nature-inspired potion set for her cute little nature-loving mini family.  Call them natural wizards of the "harm-none" sort :)  She really has wonderful and unusual modern dolls!  Her little man has a wonderful maple tree sweater on that inspired my potion set :)  I planned on doing the most elaborate set for the first place (first drawn from the hat) winner.  So I created a wild little potions floor trunk fit for any nature-lover.  I'd like to share some photos of it with you before I start my second place winner's set.  Here is Morgan's nature potion set, although the pictures are dark and fuzzy since I took them at night-the worst time for my picky camera:

Inside the trunk are the credos "Nurture Nature" and "Harm None" as well as three potions bottles:  a wild acorn capped bottle of berries that are unlabeled, a bottle of unicorn horns (labeled naturally shed), and a sculpted little green shoot coming out of a seed pod bottle that says "Help me grow" with a helping hand charm hanging from it.

As with all my items, and anyone who's bought from me can tell you, this is so much better in person because my pictures are never all that great.  I hope she likes it!

Ok, so I wonder if you all remember my wonderful and funny zombie giraffe?  I would like to introduce you to the lady who asked for him to be made, the lovely and talented Etsy artisan and etsy dark team member (search etsydarkteam without spaces on etsy to see all the work of the talented artisans on the dark team who make Halloweenish items of all kinds) mrsevils who makes the best eyeshadow I've ever used!  In honor of me, for making her the super fun zombie giraffe she decided to make me an eyeshadow custom made just how I wanted it, and named it after me :)  How fun is that???  Not only this, but she also added a link back to my store on the listing for my shadow in her store so I get free advertising as well.  Now her store is full of curiosities and interesting things and garners a lot of attention from the curious as well as her fans.  As a fan of zombies, she makes the wildest and coolest zombie barbies I've ever seen and they are really something to behold :)  She is a horror fan (hence wanting the zombie giraffe) and her creations are scary and beautiful at the same time.  But what I truly love and can't live without now is her eyeshadow.  It is the best I've ever seen!  Seriously, I worked all night one night and had my head in and out of the oven cooking polymer clay all night and let me tell you I was a fright!  Hot and uncomfortable as can be.  I was wearing her shadow and I was sure I was an icky mess by the time I quit at 3 in the morning.  I trudged to the mirror to survey the damage before washing up and was shocked to see this amazing shadow still perfectly in place without a crease or smudge in sight!  I gave some to my Mother who has trouble wearing store shadows due to allegies and she wore it without any harmful effects whatsoever.  She actually fell asleep by accident in it and woke up the next morning with it still perfectly in place-and she's a stomach sleeper!  Then it washes away effortlessly when you want to take it off.  Amazing :)  I'm hooked!  Well, here it is, the tarayvonne shadow :)   

I have olive skin that eats up lighter colors and I prefer the smoky eye look so this midnight blue is perfect for evenings out with my husband (should I ever get one lol). 

The listing is here:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/62983155/tarayvonne-darksider-eyeshadow

And there are neutral colors as well for the less adventurous who prefer a less colorful palette: 
http://www.etsy.com/listing/62669719/wtf-eyeshadow-set

As well as some that is quite good for upcoming holiday parties:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/63186917/super-glamourous-holiday-eyeshadow-set

Please visit mrsevils wonderful and creative shop for eyeshadows that don't stop looking beautiful all day and night (and she may make you something custom if you ask nicely)  Anyway, I had to give her some blog love for making me my own shadow so I can look like a sultry vixen and steal my husband's heart once again after all these years :) 

  

Sherry's Nightmare before Christmas Tree! And a beautiful Christmas fireplace too :)

I just HAVE to show you guys these two things my Mom-in-Law just made...because they are frickin' awesome!  I will be listing these in my store tomorrow ASAP!  My gosh she is getting GOOD!  Without further ado...her Nightmare Before Christmas Tree!

Like usual, my pictures couldn't be any worse.  I cannot even begin to stress how much better this is in person.  If someone buys this I may cry when I pack it up!  I LOVE it!

Now here's her Christmas fireplace, which is so elegant and well-done :)  Like I said, the girl is getting super good!

Both of these items along with some more inexpensive Christmas trees she made for those who have a tighter budget will be listed in my store tomorrow.

Winners announced of the 19th Day Miniatures giveaway!

Ok, first of all for me now having 50+ followers not many people put their names into the giveaway post comments section.  Scratching my head over that one!  Who doesn't like free stuff?  But anyway, hubbs tossed the very few names I did have from the giveaway post comments into his baseball cap and we drew names.  I have chosen based on the overwhelmingly one-sided votes to make boxed potions for the giveaway items.  Most people voted for them so yay!  I'll get to work making them alongside the rest of the Alice in Wonderland roses.

 Ok so here goes...these were the names drawn in the order they were drawn from the hat:

                           First potion box goes to.........Morgan!
Yay Morgan!  You win the number one prize and if you would like a certain one please contact me through my store link so that we can talk privately about your shipping address and what exactly you'd like me to make as your potion!  Use the contact the seller link in my etsy store:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarayvonne and we'll talk there.

Second Prize potion box goes to......Dark Squirrel Victoria! 
You know where I am and how to get ahold of me since you have a wonderful Etsy store too so get ahold of me with your shipping address and any ideas as to what you may like, k? 

Third place Prize potion box goes to......Berri! 
Use the clickable link above to contact me in my etsy store so we can discuss your prize and shipping address!  Yay Berri!

All winners visit my store to contact me and be thinking of what you're really wanting so you can let me know!   


    

Hey guys, 50 followers means a giveaway will commence!

First of all, welcome to my new followers :)  Hugs all around!  Hopefully if you're here you love minis like me!  If you don't, then what are you doing here?  Huh? Huh?!!  Haha, jokes aside :)  Ok, so it looks as though most voted for the boxed potion set.  Who are you people???  You don't like hats?  Haha, ok.  You got me.  This simply means that now "I" get to make the giveaway gifts and I can't pawn the hard work over to the hat-making lady my Mom-in-Law Sherry :) 

No matter, I can and will put forth the supreme effort to make this happen!  Now...this will take me a tad bit because:   A)  I haven't started because I've been making talking roses for a client and B) I have an idea I MUST make happen and it requires something I don't have yet...a fancy bottle.  I have already made the potion from Harry Potter called Amortentia-the most powerful love potion in the world and I have also made living death draught.  NOW, what was the other potion called that the professor made to give away to the student who managed to brew a good living death draught?............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
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Liquid luck was actually called Felix Felicis.  And so I am searching for and will find in a timely manner a bottle I can use for this potion because I really want to make it!  I'll start looking on ebay tomorrow for a bottle close enough to the bottle used in the Harry Potter movie "The Half-Blood Prince".  Ok?  I have a bottle I could use but it really doesn't suit me as perfect enough.  It'll do if I can't find "the" bottle that looks like it.  Anyone with any suggestions as to another potion title they would think of as cool let me know pronto!  I'm going to be making two at least.  The poll is now closed, as is the thread to add your name to the giveaway.  I had 14 messages on that post so I know who put their names in and will draw as soon as I make my 3 items for the giveaway.  I will let you all know the minute I know, ok?

Now, I promised to show you all pictures of the Alice in Wonderland talking roses as soon as I made them.  Well thanks to family commitments I've only finished two of the nine so I'll have to post those later as I make them.  For now, I can show you these.  The first one is a middle-aged lady rose inspired by the Chicago Peace Rose as pictured here:

Ok...that one is pretty perfect, and it's a major bummer that I am not that perfect.  I did the best I could do with polymer clay though, and eight months experience sculpting it:

And then there's my baby boy rose here who's all tuckered out and sleeping.  He's inspired by a rose called the green ice rose and I chose this rose because I needed a "boy" color and there really isn't a decent true blue rose out there that I know of.  I figured a white rose with a hint of pale green streaks through the white would be suitable for a baby boy.  And you really can't tell very well by the pictures but his arms/vines are curled up like a baby sleeping in this position:

Here is the picture of the rose that inspired this little boy:

and here is "my" version of this rose and keep in mind my pictures never do anything I make justice because my camera is icky:

I'll have to add a couple more pictures tomorrow after I take some outside because my camera can't handle these at all :(  Oh well.  I'll tack some on tomorrow after I shoot them.

Ok two new pictures:

Ugh, icky rainy day out though

 

Icky Zombie Giraffe Rampage! And other such nonsense :)

Ok so I told you guys I had a custom order for a lady who wanted a zombie giraffe? I am SO GLAD it's done! It was really difficult to sculpt, and even harder to decorate. It was beyond anything I've ever had to make thus far in the eight months I've been making things and selling them. This was a HARD build! But at last...here it is! Drum roll.............


without paint or decoration

And then I REALLY got carried away!  I wanted to make him beautiful and gross at the same time :)

I think my customer will love him, he's exactly her type of thing.  She likes zombies!

Ok then, now I'm working on a rather large custom order for one of my clients who saw the blog on Alice in Wonderland roses and fell in love :)  I have to make 9 roses, some potted and some unpotted for window boxes.  I'll post them as I make them but they won't be available for sale because they are a custom order like I said.  But it's still fun to look, especially since they will be of various ages and attitudes as well as colors.  I started a yellow rose tonight, with a middle-aged woman's face.  We'll see how she turns out after awhile.  I know the juvenile ones are quite popular so I'll be doing some of them as well in a variety of colors and types of rose.  Should be interesting!  But nothing could be a more interesting sculpt than trying to put together out of my own imagination a zombie giraffe!  I doubt I'll ever have anything crop up like that again!

*****Now about the giveaway...when I reach 50 followers I'll begin making the most voted for items on the poll (which is not working so just type in your choices on that poll)  regardless of what I'm currently working on.  I can work on my free time on those items for the giveaway.  I will be giving away three items.  We will randomly draw 3 names out of a hat and they will be our first, second, and third winners.  So please don't forget to leave your choices of what you'd like on the blog post for the giveaway so I know what I should be making.  Right now it looks like the detailed, boxed potion bottle is winning.  Alrighty, if you don't say what you'd like then it's hard for me to know what exactly to make!